The Twitter Screenplay

“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”                                                   Mark Twain Recently I came across [...]

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Off Screen Quote #4 (Mark Zoradi)

They say that in this day and age you don’t hear about many people investing 30 years at a career with one company. Of course, that’s a two way street as not many companies seem to desire investing 30 years in an employee. That’s what makes Mark Zoradi’s journey all the more compelling. He began [...]

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The Bump in Factor

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”                                                                    Emily Dickinson    So last week I was sitting down at the [...]

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Screenwriting & NAB ’09

Every year when the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) meet in Vegas it’s a great time to get look at the latest, greatest production equipment. The big dogs like Sony, Panasonic and AVID have large impressive display areas. This year there were 1,600 companies and 900,000 square feet of exhibit space.  With only a few [...]

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The Wizard of Hollywood

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”                                                         Dorothy “Digital downloads! Internet video-on-demand! This is the future!”                      [...]

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Screenwriting Quote of the Day #72 (Michael Eisner)

One of the reoccurring themes of this blog is that big things can come from small places. Most people don’t normally connect Granville, Ohio to Hollywood because…well, because they’ve never heard of Granville, Ohio. But there is a small liberal arts school there that was founded in 1831 and is now known as Denison University and [...]

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Webisode Examples

The first webisode I ever saw was back in 2004 and it featured Jerry Seinfeld and Superman in what essentially was product placement for American Express. The four minute story was directed by Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Diner)  and was reported to have a budget around $1 million.  If you haven’t seen it check out [...]

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Webisodes – New Screenwriting Opportunities

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on my feet as much as I have in the last two days walking around NAB looking at a variety of production equipment. So I cherished those breaks where I was able to sit and listen to speakers. Yesterday I watched an interview with Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping [...]

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Screenwriting Quote of the Day #71 (Marc Lawrence)

Here’s a riddle — from my hotel room last night I could see the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building and a pyramid. Where am I? Right, Las Vegas. I’m here for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention which is traditionally where all the big TV and video equipment is brought together under [...]

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Field of Dreams Turns 20

“Inspiration is hard work.”                                            W.P. Kinsella     Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Field of Dreams release. Since I’ve mentioned the movie and the screenwriter/director Phil Alden Robinson a time or two [...]

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